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Pixelmator 1.6.2: the Ars Technica review

Everywhere you turn, people are trying out and talking about a new image …

Certain programs you hear about through user buzz, and Pixelmator has been on a lot of people's lips since it made its 1.0 debut. Since my work is about as demanding as it gets for photo and texture editing, I haven't had a chance to get out of Photoshop and see whether the hype is warranted or not, until now. Over the last couple weeks, I've spent some time with Pixelmator to find out what it's great at, what it's bad at, and who it's meant for. I also took some time to compare it to The GIMP and to Adobe's consumer-oriented Adobe Photoshop Elements.

Could I make the switch to Pixelmator for my work? Hell no. Could someone use it for high-quality image editing or Web design? Definitely. Let's delve in and see if it's right for your needs.

Price

$30.00, available exclusively on the Mac App Store.

Test hardware

Mac Pro 2010

Dual-socket six-core 2.66GHz Westmere Xeon Mac Pro

15GB RAM

OCZ Vertex Turbo 120GB system disk

2TB striped RAID working disk

ATI 5870 1GB

dual NEC 2490WUXi LCDs at 1920x1200

MacBook Pro specs

MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz

4GB RAM

OCZ Vertex Turbo 120GB system disk

NVIDIA Geforce 8600M

The Pixelmator Interface

Everything about this app screams "I'm a modern Mac program." Sleek bezels, sheets, great icons, not-too-gratuitously animated transitions, and judicious use of transparency all make this feel like the image editor complement to apps like Panic's Transmit or Coda:

Pixelmator's startup screen.

Similar to those revered Panic apps, Pixelmator's not just a pretty face. The document presets instantly show you that this is a program that's meant for serious work with various outputs in mind:

Presets for web banners. I can never remember those sizes

It comes with an integrated photo browser that ties into Aperture and iPhoto image libraries:

It's basic but it has a search field.

There are rules guides with optional numerical input and units of measure:

It's missing fathoms, so people who make deep sea advertising will be sadly disappointed. No one can see you cry underwater.

Overall, Pixelmator's interface really sells it as the sleek package that it is. The little touches like the measurements for guides, fading ruler highlighting and overall polish are really satisfying and give the whole interface a tactile appeal:

video

Lightweight and fast

Pixelmator uses Core Image and OpenGL for image display, which has a noticeable effect on tool and adjustment speed. The live feedback of the Magic Wand's threshold, Replace Color adjustment, and Gradient tool are helpful and responsive, even on my MacBook Pro's aging NVIDIA 8600M.

I've been using Pixelmator for a long time now, and it's the ideal thing for most users.

It's affordable and provides as much image editing as 95% of us need. And the developer is really focused on continual improvements, which is nice (I used to buy Photoshop Elements, but seeing the Mac version languish for three years or so turned me off Adobe altogether).

I was interested in this app a year or two back, but it's absolutely useless to anyone who's doing work for print production because it can't convert images to CMYK. I don't care how good it is otherwise, that's a showstopper for anyone having to send images to be printed on paper. I detest Photoshop and would be happy to dump it, but without CMYK support, nothing else matters.

Um, what's the point of posting the hard drive you use as a spec? Would the program operate that much faster if you had a different hard drive?

If it hammers on the hard drive as a scratch disk like Photoshop does, then yeah.

I haven't pulled the trigger on Pixelmator yet - it's still missing some important features I rely on - but that new $30 pricetag makes it mighty tempting for simpler jobs. Thanks for the in-depth review.

"Everywhere you turn, people are trying out and talking about a new image editing tool called Pixelmator."

Either the author really has to meet more people who don't use Macs or lighten up on the hyperbole...

I'd never even heard of this app until this article... probably because it's a Mac only app.

And I DO own a Mac.

Pixelmator has been selling really well on the Mac App Store, so its visibility *has* increased dramatically since the App Store launch. But yeah, I don't think you'll bump into too many people on the street talking about it...

Dave: I'm not really sure how a program first released in September 2007 can be described as "a new image editing tool", but I appreciate the review of this latest version nonetheless!

Actually isn't the latest version 1.6.4 (with a 1.6.5 having been submitted to Mac App Store & a 1.7 to follow)?? Pixelmator also launched on the MAS with 1.6.4 so its interesting that the version that was used for review was 1.6.2

I ditched Photoshop CS3 (latest version I had, been through almost a decade of iterations) for pixelmator recently. So far its been great for my basic needs. Its lightning quick start up time and interface is a blessing compared to the dog that has become Photoshop. Its biggest glaring hole for me is its type tool as mentioned in the review, its crop and selection tool are also a bit strange. In one of Pixelmator's latest blog posts they said a major rev of type was coming. Since its currently discounted on the store and the upgrade to 2.0 will be free, I pulled the purchase trigger.

I couldn't switch to Pixelmator last time I tried (4 months ago), strong typography support is highly important to me as a web designer and a font fanatic. Photoshop it is for me, but I do keep an eye on Pixelmator's (and Acorn) progress with keen interest. Thank's for the review.

The pricing is, I believe, limited time only. When the product hits 2.0 they are expected to bounce it back up to $60 or so. They made it cheaper because they were shafting their current clients who no longer have a cheap upgrade option to 2.0. Their choice basically lets everyone get 2.0 for $30 instead of just the current users.

Great review, the price is temporary though and will go back up soon. I'm one of the people who own a non-app store copy that are going to have to re-buy it to get an upgrade to version 2 whenever it shows up. And I don't use it that often, but I'll probably buy it.

I would be interested in seeing an Acorn review as well and I hope Dave is going to take another look at GIMP once 3.0/3.2 comes out (which might be some time anyway.)

The fact that people are willing to pay money for software that is less capable than Gimp says a lot about just how bad Gimp's UI really is.

Form over function.

Sadly true... I've used the Gimp periodically because it's one of very few image editors with native support for SVG but its UI is clunky in the extreme and if you're not on Linux, it's totally at odds with the host OS due to the abomination of X11.

I found this one a little over a year ago at version 1.5 and was thoroughly impressed which led me to a purchase late last year. When checking for updates I found they had unceremoniously dumped PowerPC support after v1.5. My first purchase of this application has turned out to also be the last, as finding a modern image editor that was still being updated and ran on my iBook G4 was precisely what I meant to support with my purchase.

...strong typography support is highly important to me as a web designer...

does not compute.

You ignored the "font fanatic" part...

And you can't be that much of a font fanatic, otherwise you'd be using web fonts and using CSS to typeset. Web fonts work on all major browsers: IE, Firefox, Opera, Safari and Crome. There's also a healthy selection these days with licenses to allow for this type of use.

What I really want is Paint.NET on OS X. I use it quite a bit on Windows. But the thing is, I find I can do almost all the image manipulation I need within iPhoto or Keynote. It's just the little things, like making an event image for Facebook that push me to a dedicated image editing app, so maybe I'm not the target market.

I got PSE6 for relatively cheap and because of its head-swapping feature and a mate said his dad loved it for PC, but I couldn't stand it. It took forever to start up and it was always full-screen, I never liked the interface, which seemed to be over-simplistic or over-complicated and never close to a happy medium. And its image scaling for display was horrible. Neither did it play well with iPhoto. The best way I found to get photos in was to drag them onto its dock icon when it was minimised, otherwise you'd have to go into the iPhoto Library and try to find your photo in the Modified or Originals branches (though that is more insanity on Apple's part than Adobe's. And what is the point of Bridge?). So I've stayed away from later versions.[/rant]

Haven't used the GIMP on OS X, but I have used SeaShore, which is supposedly a feature cut down version of the GIMP with a Mac interface. Works reasonably well for what I need, but I ended up using Paintbrush more often. Now I've moved on to Acorn, which looks very like SeaShore, after getting it in a bundle, but I haven't stressed it yet.

...and it really is one of those apps you look forward to opening thanks to its intelligent design (not to be confused with the fictitious kind)...

Ahh yes, because remember folks - naturalistic forces just magically spawned life out of nothing, even though our smartest scientists can't do it, and they have determination/will (unlike naturalistic forces)

I thought this was a software review, not another secular sermon. It seems Ars's penchant for constantly proclaiming their Atheism has perpetrated every facet of their website, even software reviews.

Maybe I'm a bit touchy but damn, I was actually enjoying the review (and I don't even own a Mac) until this little gem was slipped in there. It's totally out of place.

Hell, even Richard Dawkins admitted to at least the possibility of Intelligent Design, on TV no less.

...and it really is one of those apps you look forward to opening thanks to its intelligent design (not to be confused with the fictitious kind)...

a bit touchy [..]

Why don't you just let it slip? If Ars likes to make fun of that kind of things, why can't you make fun of it yourself? Nobody really cares anyways. I doubt I get nice responses if I start talking about elemental beings around us.

...and it really is one of those apps you look forward to opening thanks to its intelligent design (not to be confused with the fictitious kind)...

Ahh yes, because remember folks - naturalistic forces just magically spawned life out of nothing, even though our smartest scientists can't do it, and they have determination/will (unlike naturalistic forces)

Oh right: if the solution is that a supernatural force can magically spawn these naturalistic forces, it's alright.

Yeah, paint.NET is an awesome program that provides pretty deep functionality for free. The developer community behind it is solid as well and there are a ton of free plugins to be had. I think it's one of the best free programs out there. I was so impressed, I donated on Paypal.

The fact that people are willing to pay money for software that is less capable than Gimp says a lot about just how bad Gimp's UI really is.

Form over function.

The question is whether that really is form over function.When the form of something (GiMP) is so atrocious that it severely affects the function, then a better form may provide much better function for most users.

The core of the program does the heavy lifting, but the UI allows the user to actually access all that power. With GiMP it takes some fighting with the absolutely atrocious UI to perform even the most basic of tasks, while Pixelmator makes the task quick and easy. Thus Pixelmator offers MORE functionality to most users.GiMP with a real interface (and no X11) could be a truly great program (the power and flexibility are amazing, especially for a free program). But it just isn't great at all. It leaves me considering selling my firstborn to be able to afford Photoshop.

Pixelmator is great and I have used the 30 day trial on 2 different computers. I did get Acorn cheap in a bundle, and I switched to it rather than buy a Pixelmator license. I also got in on a cheap $10 upgrade for Acorn by emailing the developer after I missed a mupromo discount. The (free & minor) updates are frequent, and the developer is responsive. The UI is not as nice, and there are fewer tutorials but if you need image manipulation occasionally it is great to have.

Well done review. I have been using Pixelmator for about a year now, and love it. Despite what many people seem to think it is not meant to be a Photoshop replacement. However, the VAST majority of people who use this type of program don't need Photoshop. That is like using a full-up 18 wheel tracker trailer to go get a sheet of plywood at Home Depot, a pick-up truck works just fine. (Don't you just love car analogies? )

...and it really is one of those apps you look forward to opening thanks to its intelligent design (not to be confused with the fictitious kind)...

Ahh yes, because remember folks - naturalistic forces just magically spawned life out of nothing, even though our smartest scientists can't do it, and they have determination/will (unlike naturalistic forces)

I thought this was a software review, not another secular sermon. It seems Ars's penchant for constantly proclaiming their Atheism has perpetrated every facet of their website, even software reviews.

Maybe I'm a bit touchy but damn, I was actually enjoying the review (and I don't even own a Mac) until this little gem was slipped in there. It's totally out of place.

Hell, even Richard Dawkins admitted to at least the possibility of Intelligent Design, on TV no less.

Intelligent design -- is that like Steve Jobs created the world or something?